CM Vijay wins trust vote in Tamil Nadu, 24 MLAs of AIADMK support him! Palaniswami demanded to expel the rebels

pc: India today

AIADMK Chief and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister EK Palaniswami has sought disqualification of 24 rebel MLAs of his party for supporting the confidence motion moved by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Thalapathy Joseph Vijay. He made this request to the Speaker on behalf of the party after the trust vote on Wednesday. As a result, the AIADMK is set to dissolve for the third time in the last four decades.

infighting over trust vote
On Wednesday, Tamilaga Vettiri Kazhagam (TVK) leader and Chief Minister Vijay faced a trust vote in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. The results of the vote showed that the Vijay-led government got the support of 144 MLAs. MLAs from TVK’s allies Congress, CPM, CPI, VCK, Indian Union Muslim League, as usual, voted in favor of the government in the trust vote. 59 MLAs of MK Stalin’s DMK party left the assembly chamber before voting.

The 47-member AIADMK led by EK Palaniswami decided to abstain from voting. But under the leadership of SP Velumani, ‘rebel’ 24 MLAs voted in favor of the government in the trust vote. At Palaniswami’s insistence, only 17 MLAs voted against the trust motion. Subsequently, the Palaniswami camp sent a letter to the Speaker demanding the release of 24 rebels including Velumani. Apart from this, the main leader of the rebel group and AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP CV Sammugam has been suspended from the party. After this move of Palaniswami camp, a group of political experts believe that the way for a third wave in AIADMK has been cleared.

Third split in four decades
The history of Dravidian politics says that AIADMK started with disunity. The party has divided a total of three times in the last four decades. After the death of DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Anna Durai, famous Tamil film hero MG Ramachandran left the party due to differences with M Karunanidhi over leadership. He became the Chief Minister of the state three times by defeating DMK. After Ramachandran’s death in 1987, his wife Janaki became the Chief Minister. But later Tamil heroine Jayalalitha created a split in the party. Jayalalitha’s party became the ‘real AIADMK’ after pushing Janaki back with electoral success. After Jayalalitha’s death in 2016, the AIADMK was again divided due to the feud between Palaniswami and former Chief Minister Panneerselvam. Later, with the mediation of BJP, the two camps united for some time, but Palaniswami later expelled Panneerselvam. Panneerselvam joined the DMK ahead of the recently held assembly elections.

After the elections, Vijay’s party reached the magic number to form the government with the support of Congress, two Left parties, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Dalit organization VCK. Radhan also had a role in deciding the date of swearing in. Initially it was decided that Vijay would take oath as Chief Minister on Sunday at 3:45 pm. But on the advice of the astrologer the time of swearing in was changed. Vijay took oath at 10 am on Sunday. According to sources in Vijay’s Party TV, Radhaan had told Vijay that if he would take oath at the ‘sacred moment’ at 10 am, he would have good luck. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu completely accepted the astrologer’s advice.